PRESENCE - a site-specific series at Lisgar Park
Hosted by Ryan G. Hinds (Sept 27-29 & October 1-2)
and Kiera Breaugh (Sept 30)
Featuring commissioned works by
Pulga Muchochoma and Eilish Shin-Culhane
September 27 - October 1 @ 7:30pm & October 1 @ 3:30pm
production/stage management: Michelle Soicher
sound: Eric Kinsella
production supervisor: Deb Lim
producer: Jenny McCowan
Manhalô
choreography: Pulga Muchochoma
music: Kobèna Aquaa-harrison
costume design: Pulga Muchochoma
prop design: Pulga Muchochoma
Dancer: Mafa Makhubalo
I first want to take this moment to say big thanks to Peggy Baker Dance Projects for giving me the opportunity to showcase this work. For everyone watching this work, I also thank you for being a part of it.
Initially, I was supposed to be creating a solo on myself but then I realized that Mafa is the right dancer to translate this work in collaboration with Kobèna and his music.
Manhalô is a piece that is personal and spiritual to me and I hope that Mafa finds that connection to our ancestors by performing this piece. I also hope that he takes the audience with him on his ride.
MANHALÓ means feet In Chuabo a language from the Center of Mozambique.
It's the feet that create the first connection to the earth and into the world we live in.
This piece allows the dancer to stand and listen to the sound of our ancestors with his feet and his whole body at once.
This piece allows the dancer to stand and listen to the sound of our ancestors with his feet and his whole body at once.
Pulga Muchochoma
Choreographer
Pulga Muchochoma was born in Mozambique. His dance career and training began in Quelimane with Montes Namuli Dance Company.
In 2006, he came to Toronto with the company for the International AIDS Conference.
With Montes Namuli/Shakespeare Link Canada, he performed in several shows in venues in Toronto and Mozambique. When Montes Namuli returned to Mozambique, Muchochoma stayed in Toronto to study at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre .
In 2009 he joined the company Toronto Dance Theatre where he danced for 11 seasons under the artistic leadership of Christopher House.
With TDT, Pulga worked with many local and international artists and he also participated in the 2015 Opening ceremony of the Toronto Panam Games, with Cirque du Soleil and NBS. He’s also the creator and the founder of Pulga Dance since 2015.
Photo: David Choi
Mafa Makhubalo -
Dancer
Mafa Makhubalo is a movement poet trained in folk forms from the Regions of African tradition and Western-Contemporary.
Mafa's work has been presented at various events, including Ontario Dance Weekend, International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) in Toronto, Body Percussion Festival, Dance Immersion ShowCase, Contemporaneity, Edition 1.0, TEADA 2019 CUBA, and FFDN’s signature program in 2020. He is actively involved in community engagements & arts education programs and completed a mentorship placement with Young People’s Theatre as part of the Arts Management post-graduate certificate program at Centennial College.
Kobèna Aquaa-Harrison -
Music
Kobèna Aquaa-Harrison is Isan eclectic, award-winning Canadian performer, multimedia producer and composer of Ghanaian and Bermudian background who builds musical instruments, festivals and communities. Winner of Dora Mavor Moore, Chalmers Foundation, TAMA, nominations and contributions to JUNO artists of various categories. Kobè plays guitar, bass, marimba/ balafon, seperewa (17th century Akan harp-guitar), drums etc. His all-star band Djungle Bouti Orchestra’s self-produced album, “Djazz 2.1.4” is acclaimed as “an audio decoding of African DNA” and was nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award (TIMA).
Stop!?
choreography: Eilish Shin-Culhane
composition: Aidan McConnell
dramaturg: Tia Ashley Kushniruk
Dancers: Kendra Epik, Rumi Jeraj, Jessica Mak, Audrianna Martin Del Campo, Audrey Sides, Kaya Tsurumi, Evan Webb
This site-specific work explores our inability to truly experience rest, speaking to this compulsion to keep moving forward - to never feel able to stop. We question where this need comes from -and wonder how much of this seemingly external pressure has actually been internalized. The dancers examine this place of uncertainty, this need for permission, and this impulse to never quite trust our gut. Utilizing laughter as a means of expressing anger, absurdity, discomfort, release, and joy - the dancers embody this overwhelming sense of restlessness as they navigate their external world. This work is generously supported by both the Toronto Arts Council and the Canada Council of the Arts.
Eilish Shin-Culhane
Choreographer
Eilish Shin-Culhane is a Tkaronto-based queer artist, dancer, and choreographer of Korean and European descent. She received her BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College in New York.
As a dancer, Eilish has had the privilege to perform in works by Peter Chu, Bill T. Jones, Nicole von Arx, Frog in Hand, Anton Lachky, and Adam Barruch. She has additionally trained with Johannes Wieland, Anouk van Dijk, Ryan Mason, Isadora Wolfe, and Andrea Miller. Eilish's choreographic work utilizes both abstracted and highly physical gestures - as a way to play with emotionality, theatre, vocalizations, exhaustion, and connection. She has presented works at NYU’s ‘Choreofest’, Aeris Körper's 'PROSPECTS', and Dance Ontario’s ‘Show & Share Sessions’. Her work has been supported by the National Ballet’s Open Space Programme, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts..
Photo: Aidan Tooth
Kendra Epik
Kendra Epik is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist. Kendra works independently as a dancer, filmmaker, photographer, and musician. Her training in dance began at Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Kendra continued her dance studies at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA graduating with honors in 2016. Kendra is working with Human Body Expressions, under the direction of Hanna Kiel, for her work Again premiering on film in February 2021 and in 2022.
Rumi Jeraj
Rumi Jeraj is an ismailli muslim hailing from Sherwoodpark Alberta (the world's largest hamlet).Since graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University Rumi has been curious about creating his own work, collaborating with musicians through the National Ballet's open space program and Purawai Vyas (a Bharatanatyam dancer) through the Love-In. He aspires to create and be a part of work which mixes forms in order to better tell stories.
Jessica Mak
Jessica Mak is a Chinese-Canadian, freelance dance and textile artist. Through 2019 to 2022, Jessica toured Red Sky Performance’s Trace across North America. She has had the opportunity to participate in intensives and research projects such as Springboard Danse Montreal, B12 Festival, Domaine Forget, Adelheid's Re:research and more. Based in Toronto, Jessica connects and collaborates with other local artists to exchange and grow collectively. Moving with sensitivity and intention her current focus is on care and play.
Audrianna Martin Del Campo
Audrianna Martin Del Campo is a freelance dance artist and photographer currently based in Toronto. She trained in Emilia-Romagna under the artistic direction of Brigel Gjoka. Audrianna has had the opportunity to perform works by Ultima Vez/Wim Vanekeybus, Marie Chouinard, Daina Ashlee, Roberto Zappalá, Francesca Foscarini and William Forsythe. She is inspired by radical authenticity and collaborative creation spanning across artistic mediums. Audrianna strives to capture stories and concepts in a unique and compelling light that lends a new perspective to the viewers imagination. She is thrilled to be working alongside Eilish and the entire cast on this project!
Audrey Sides
Audrey Sides is a dance artist based in Vancouver, BC. She grew up in Oakland, CA and trained at the San Francisco Ballet School and Hubbard Street Professional Program and has danced with the Oakland Ballet Company, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Austin, Joshua Beamish/MOVEthecompany and the Little Fire Artist Collective, among others. Since moving to Vancouver, she’s been dancing with Modus Operandi, a contemporary dance training program, and looking at the ocean a lot.
Kaya Tsurumi
Kaya Tsurumi is a Japanese Filipina dance artist who grew up on Kwikwetlem First Nations territory (Coquitlam, BC). In 2021, Kaya graduated from the Arts Umbrella Post-Secondary program and since then has been training at Modus Operandi. Additionally, she has participate in intensives with Sidra Bell and Gallim Dance. She is excited about art that takes place in digital and/or public spaces and recently made a dance film titled “Peace Piece”.
Evan Webb
Evan Webb (they/them) hails from Calgary Alberta, and is currently based in Toronto. Before focusing on becoming a dance artist, Evan was well versed in various movement practice’s and visual art forms, lending to a desire to naturally perform idiosyncratically in movement expression. They attended TMU in the Performance Dance program, graduating in 2020.
Experiences of being othered as a member of the LGBTQ+ community has given them a unique perspective, and influenced their artistic values.
Aidan McConnell - Composer
Aidan McConnell is a Composer, Drummer and Improviser living in Toronto, Ontario. Most of his compositions are frameworks for exploring improvisation or collaborations with dancers and filmmakers. Aidan aims to challenge and critique the sonic and social boundaries of genre, and strives to contribute to his communities in all the work he does. He studied jazz performance and classical composition at the University of Toronto.
Tia Ashley Kushniruk
(亚 女弟) -
Dramaturg
Tia Ashley Kushniruk (亚 女弟) is a queer woman of Chinese-Eastern European settler heritage from the Treaty 6 Territory of Amiskwaciwâskahikan/Edmonton. She has had the pleasure of performing works of Antony Hamilton, Paul Andre-Fortier, Peggy Baker, Aria Evans, Christopher House, Christianne Ullmark, Susie Burpee, Jasmyn Fyffe, and is a company member of Shay Kuebler/RSA in Vancouver(2018). Her research has been supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Canada Council for the Arts, since 2014.